It’s a double whammy for health bosses

Health bosses have been handed a double-blow, after being placed in ‘financial turnaround’ by NHS leaders and having their hospital plans rubbished by the borough council.

Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been put into financial turnaround after talks with NHS, after admitting that they will not be able to balance the books by the end of the financial year.

The CCG, which oversees healthcare across the county, has less than four months to tackle a shortfall of £11million.

And the CCG’s plans to close further services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital have also been savaged, after their officers appeared before Dacorum Borough Council.

Councillors fired a volley of criticisms before passing a unanimous resolution calling for hospital provision to remain in Dacorum.

Turn to page 7 for a full report of the meeting.

Nicolas Small, chairman of the CCG, said: “Finances at Herts Valleys CCG have been under pressure for some time.

“Like many parts of the NHS we have been facing increases in demand for healthcare and at the same time we are required to contain our costs within the taxpayer-funded budgets we have available. In addition we know that financial constraints are set to continue into future years.

“We have made considerable efforts over the last 12-18 months to reduce our expenditure but are now not able to forecast a balanced financial position for the end of this current financial year, and at this stage we need to recover something in the region of £11m.

“Our increased financial challenges are due to rises in demand for healthcare – particularly for acute services, together with the fact that some of our savings schemes are not delivering as we planned.”

David Evans, the CCG’s programme director for its Your Care, Your Future scheme, said: “Like the council we want to give the people of Dacorum the best possible care within the money we have.